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Match Game
Match Game was the comedy game show where celebrities match contestants and vice versa, simply by filling in the blanks. If the contestants do it very well, they win lots of money. Game Format Gene Rayburn greets two contestants and several million Americans on Match Game '7?/PM. Two contestants, including a returning champion, competed. The champion was seated in the upstage (red circle) seat and the opponent was seated in the downstage (green triangle) seat. On Match Game PM and the daily syndicated version, a coin toss was held backstage to determine the positions. The object was to match the answers of as many of the six celebrity panelists as possible on fill-in-the-blank statements. The main game was played in two rounds. The opponent was given a choice of two statements labeled either "A" or "B". Rayburn then read the statement. While the contestant pondered an answer, the six celebrities wrote their answers on index cards. After they finished, the contestant was polled for an answer. Gene then asked each celebrity — one at a time, beginning with #1 in the upper left hand corner — to respond. While early questions were similar to the NBC version (e.g., "Name a type of muffin" and "Every morning, John puts _________ on his cereal"), the questions quickly became more humorous. Comedy writer Dick DeBartolo, who had participated in the 1960s Match Game, now contributed broader and saucier questions for Gene. Frequently, the statements were written with bawdy, double entendre answers in mind. A classic example: "Did you catch a glimpse of that girl on the corner? She has the world's biggest _________." Frequently, the audience responded appropriately as Gene critiqued the contestant's answer (for the "world's biggest" question, he might show disdain to an answer such as "fingers" or "bag", and compliment an answer such as "rear end" or "boobs", often also commenting on the audience's approving or disapproving response). The audience usually would groan or boo when a contestant gave a bad answer, whereas they would cheer and applaud in approval of a good answer. There were a handful of potential answers that were prohibited, the most notable being any synonym for genitalia. The contestant earned one point for each celebrity who wrote down the same answer (or reasonably similar as determined by the judges; for example, "rear end" could be matched by "bottom", "behind", "derrière", "fannie", "hiney", etc.) up to a maximum of six points for matching everyone. After play was completed on one contestant's question, Gene read the statement on the other card for the opponent and play was identical. Popular questions featured "Dumb Dora" or her male counterpart, "Dumb Donald". These questions would often begin, "Dumb Dora/Donald is/was so dumb..." or "Dumb Dora/Donald is/was REALLY dumb." To this, the audience would respond en masse, "How dumb IS/WAS he/she?" Then Gene would finish the question. Other common subjects of questions were Superman/Lois Lane, King Kong/Fay Wray, panelists on the show (most commonly Brett Somers), politicians, and Howard Cosell. Gene always played the action for laughs, and he frequently tried to read certain questions in character; for example, he would recite questions involving a made-up character named "Old Man Periwinkle", or "102-year-old Mr. Periwinkle", in a weak, quavering voice (he also did Periwinkle's female counterpart, "Old Mrs. Pervis"). Charles Nelson Reilly, who admitted in '77 he was Brett Somers's rival (as they often argued), one of the regular panelists and one who was often involved with directing Broadway plays, would often make remarks regarding Gene's acting such as "I like when you act" and "That was mediocre" when Gene did a voice like this; this tended to draw a big laugh from the audiences. At times, questions would deal with the fictitious (and often sleazy) country of "Nerdo Crombezia". On Match Game PM and the daily syndicated version whichever player was ahead in points after Round 1 always began by choosing a question first in Round 2. This rule ensured that both players would be able to play two meaningful questions. (Without this rule, a player who had only answered one question could be ahead of another player who had played both his/her questions, rendering the final question moot.) Only celebrities that a contestant did not match could play this second round. On the CBS version, challengers always chose a question first in the next round. The second round questions were generally easier and were usually puns that had a "definitive" answer (for instance, "Did you hear about the new religious group of dentists? They call themselves the Holy _____.", where the definitive answer would be "Molars"), whereas the first round usually had a number of possible answers. This was to help trailing contestants pick up points quickly. On Match Game PM, a third round was added after Season One as the games proved to be too short to fill the half-hour. Again, the only celebrities who played were those who did not match that contestant in previous rounds. The player who matched more celebrities at the end of the game is declared the winner. If the players had the same score at the end of "regulation", the scores were reset to 0-0. On PM (or on the syndicated daytime show if time was running short), a time-saving variant of the tie-breaker was used that reversed the game play. The contestants would write their answers first on a card in secret, then the celebrities were canvassed to give their answers. The first celebrity response to match a contestant's answer gave that contestant the victory; if there was still no match (which was rare), the round was replayed with a new question. On the CBS version, the tie-breaker went on until there was a clear winner. If it came to the sudden-death tie-breaker, only the final question (the one that ultimately broke the tie) was kept and aired. The CBS daytime version had returning champions and the show "straddled" – that is, episodes often began and ended with games in progress. On the CBS daytime show, champions could stay until defeated or reached the network's limit of $25,000. Originally, that was the maximum earning for any champion, but the rule was later changed so that while champions were still retired after exceeding the $25,000 limit, they got to keep everything up to $35,000. During the six-year run of Match Game on CBS, only one champion retired undefeated. On the daily 1979-82 syndicated version, two contestants would play two games against each other, and then both were retired. The show was timed out so that two new contestants appeared each Monday; this was necessary as the tapes of the show were shipped between stations, and weeks could not be aired in any discernible order (a common syndication practice at the time, known as "bicycling"). If a Friday show ran short, audience members sometimes got to play the game; this occurred on only three occasions. Episodes of Match Game PM were self-contained, with two new contestants each week. Super Match The winner of the game went on to play the (Big Money) Super Match, which consisted of the Audience Match and the Head-To-Head Match segments, for additional money. On the CBS version, the winner of the game won $100. The Super Match was referred to as the "Jackpot Match" in the 70s pilot. Audience Match A two to four word fill-in-the-blank phrase was given, and it was up to the contestant to choose the most common response based on a studio audience survey. After consulting with three celebrities on the panel for help, the contestant chose an answer they liked the best, or chose one of their own that they thought of themselves. The answers were then revealed; the most popular answer in the survey was worth $500, the second-most popular $250, and the third-most popular $100. If a contestant failed to match any of the three answers, the bonus round ended. Two Audience Matches were played on Match Game PM. On at least one occasion on Match Game PM, a contestant failed to win any money on either Audience Match; the contestant then got to play a fill-in-the-blank statement with the entire panel for $100 per match ($600 in total) as a consolation prize, or a possible $200 per match when the Star Wheel was instituted. This has rarely occurred. Head-To-Head Match The contestant then had the opportunity to win an additional cash prize equal to 10 times what he or she won in the Audience Match (therefore, $5,000, $2,500 or $1,000) by matching another fill-in-the-blank response with a celebrity panelist of his or her choice. In order to win the money, the contestant had to match his or her chosen celebrity's response exactly; this meant that multiple forms of the same word, e.g. singular or plural, were usually accepted whereas synonyms were not. If successful, he/she won the extra money (the total prize being $1,100/$2,750/$5,500). Thus, a maximum of $5,600 ($100 won for winning the game) could be won on the daytime version per game & Super Match ($10,600 when the Star Wheel was instituted). On Match Game PM, a maximum of $11,000 could be won ($21,000 when the Star Wheel was instituted). The latter has occurred at least twice. Richard Dawson was the most frequently-chosen celebrity in the 1970s version. His knack for matching contestants was so great that producers tried to discourage contestants from repeatedly choosing him, even before the introduction of the Star Wheel; in 1975 a rule was added, stipulating that a returning champion could not choose the same celebrity again for the Head-To-Head Match - this only lasted six weeks. Star Wheel The "Star Wheel" was introduced in 1978 and was used until the syndicated version ended in 1982. Contestants spun the wheel to determine which celebrity they played with in the Head-To-Head Match, and could double their potential winnings if the wheel landed on an area of gold stars under each celebrity's name (later changed to three individual stars per celebrity to increase the difficulty of obtaining a double). The wheel was added to prevent people from constantly choosing Richard Dawson, although the first time it was used it landed on Richard nonetheless. This caused the rest of the panel to get up and leave, leading fellow star Charles Nelson Reilly to refer to it on that episode as "the famed and fixed Star Wheel". The Star Wheel was also used in the 1990 version of the show. Personnel *Host: Gene Rayburn *Announcer: Johnny Olson *Substitute Announcer: Bern Bennett *Producer: Ira Skutch *Director: Marc Breslow *Set Designer: Jim Agazzi *Music: Score Productions Trivia It's bonus round format (called Supermatch) would then later be spun-off as Family Feud hosted by it's frequent panelists Richard Dawson for ABC Daytime in 1976 and for Syndication in 1977 until 1985 and later again in Syndication from 1994 until 1995 respectively. In Popular Culture The Real Match Game Story: Behind the Blank On November 26, 2006, GSN (Game Show Network) debuted a two-hour documentary special called The Real Match Game Story: Behind the Blank narrated by Jamie Farr (of M*A*S*H fame) it features Interviews with the likes of Richard Dawson, Brett Somers, Marcia Wallace, Betty White and Jimmie Walker. In addition, the documentary features interviews with numerous staff members from the classic series and one of the last interviews with host Gene Rayburn before his untimely death on November 29, 1999. International Versions Main Article: Match Game/International Game Show Marathon Match Game was featured in the weekly hour-long tournament-styled game show, Gameshow Marathon in 2006. Game Show Marathon was hosted by Ricki Lake and announced by Rich Fields. The show was filmed at CBS Television City in Hollywood and aired on CBS from May 31, 2006 to June 29, 2006. 'Rules' The format was similar to that of Match Game P.M., except that in the Head-to-Head Match portion of the Super-Match round, it was played 50 times the amount won in the two Audience Matches for $50,000 which was won. Full Episode Game$how Marathon Match Game 73, pt. 1 Game$how Marathon Match Game 73, pt. 2 Game$how Marathon Match Game 73, pt. 3 Game$how Marathon Match Game 73, pt. 4 Game$how Marathon Match Game 73, pt. 5 Logos Match_Game_G$M.png 185px-G$M.jpg Set 2006gsmpics035.jpg 230292_6136881194_2023_n.jpg 223532_6136886194_2255_n.jpg 226277_6136891194_2706_n.jpg Match_Game_G$M_set_props.png 221807_6136876194_1801_n.jpg 221597_6136856194_7926_n.jpg 228107_6136896194_3161_n.jpg Match_Game_G$M_Set_Props_2.png Set Pics 2006gsmpics030.jpg 2006gsmpics032.jpg 2006gsmpics033.jpg 576061861_ffa5892237_z.jpg Gameshow-marathon11.jpg 6a00d8341d0ae853ef00e5506d778f8833-800wi.jpg 575871394_a3124daa7e_z.jpg Screencaps Match_Game_G$M_Screencap.png mggsm.jpg Merchandise Main Article: Match Game/Merchandise Photos Main Article: Match Game/Photos Episode Status See Also: Match Game/Episode Guide This series exists in its entirety, and it is currently on GSN and Buzzr. Video See Also The Match Game Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour Match Game (1985 Proposed Revival) Match Game (1987 Proposed Revival) Match Game (1990) Match Game (1996 pilot) Match Game (1998) What the Blank! Match Game (2008 pilot) Links Match Game ('73) Pilot @ usgameshows.net Meeting My "Match!" [http://www.avclub.com/article/10-match-game-episodes-that-hit-viewers-right-in-t-201407 10 Match Game episodes the hit viewers right in the blank] Game Night: Match Game @ This Was TV Category:Match Game Category:Game Shows A-M Category:CBS Daytime Category:Syndicated Category:1973 Premiere Category:1975 Premiere Category:1979 Ending Category:1982 Ending